Trail Camera for Wildlife Living in a Tree Hollow④ (Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, Dormouse and Small Japanese Field Mouse)

This article is for people who are interested in Japanese wildlife, nature and trail camera.
You will see a part of life of Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, Dormouse and Small Japanese Field Mouse.

Hello, I’m KON.

I have set the trail camera from September 21 to November 14, 2020.

You can see the previous article from the link below.
Trail Camera for Wildlife Living in a Tree Hollow③ (Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, Dormouse and Japanese Marten)

Honestly saying, I had set the trail camera from July 24 to September 10, 2020, but I forgot turning on the power.

In addition to it, the date on trail camera this time was off by one month!

I am goofy!!

Be careful to the date when you see pictures and videos in this article.

Date and time of the record of Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, Dormouse and Small Japanese Field Mouse who visited the tree hollow.

Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel and Dormouse were recorded more frequently than ever.
Small Japanese Field Mouse was recorded for the first time.

I have set trail camera for 54 days.
Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel visited for 21 days.
Dormouse did for 8 days and Small Japanese Field Mouse did for 3 days.

Two Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel were recorded at the same time on the videos. 

There are two Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrels on the video.
They were not recorded simultaneously,  but I guess from the behavior they were at least two individuals on the tree. 

What is the reason to behave with other individuals?
Mother and child?
Brothers and sisters?
Couple?

Guess form Japanese Giant Fly Squirrel, it is less possible that they are a couple.
Are they family?

From my experience, I guess Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrels inhabit tree hollow with brother and sisters for a while after the time of parental separation. 

Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel and Dormouse were observed more frequently this time.

Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel was recorded more than ever in October.
It visited this tree hollow once every two days in average and frequently came and went into the tree hollow and sniffed around the hole.
2 individuals were recorded on Oct 15 and 19.

Maybe the children left their parents look for the available place for a rest.

I don’t know what Dormouse does here.

Did Dormouse just stop by and check the tree hollow when it walked nearby?

I think Dormouse doesn’t hibernate in this tree hollow because this hollow is too big for it and easily attached by predator like Japanese Marten.  

It looks there is no food for Dormouse on this tree.
It is interesting to guess why it is here.

When Dormouse visited this tree, it appeared several day in a row for some reason.
Something might attract it.

The first record of Small Japanese Field Mouse.

Small Japanese Field Mouse is common species in Japan.
Indigenous species.
It lives mainly in the forest and good at climbing trees.

Many people think a mouse is unpleasant but it is so cute.
It is not weird at all if you see it at pet shop.

Small Japanese Field Mouse tends to like trees as a living place and use nest box of Great Tit and Dormouse for breeding.
This time is the first record for it but, why it has never been recorded.

Is the tree hollow too big to use for Small Japanese Field Mouse?
If so, Dormouse is the same.

I look forward to more records in the future.

Nest Material (bark stripping) of Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel.

This tree is 20m far from the tree I set camera.
It is also “Nezuko”(Thuja standishii).

I have no basis, but I’m sure now that Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel peeled this tree bark to gather nest materials.
This is just an intuition.

Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel does it in a different way, but it must be Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel.

I couldn’t find feces or any evidence of Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, however, I will set another trail camera to observe it.

A summary of trail camera research in September, October and November.

This is the trail camera I used this time.
“BUSHNELL” is the most reliable camera for me.

This is the trail camera I used this time.
“BUSHNELL” is the most reliable camera for me.

This is the trail camera I used this time.
“BUSHNELL” is the most reliable camera for me.